Simultaneous study of individual and group patterns of latent longitudinal change using structural equation modeling

This article utilizes structural equation modeling for purposes of simultaneous study of individual and group latent change patterns on several longitudinally assessed variables. The approach is based on a special case of the comprehensive latent curve analysis by Meredith and Tisak (1990). Substantively interesting aspects of individual and group growth curves, as well as the interrelations among their patterns, are parameterized at the latent ability level. The method is illustrated on data from a two‐group study by Baltes, Dittmann‐Kohli, and Kliegl (1986).